nuclear-news

Nuclear regulatory Commission judges rule in favour of Nevada nuclear waste dump

Judges block Obama effort to close Yucca Mountain waste site, KansasCity.com By JAMES ROSE, 4 July 2010, The Obama administration has suffered a defeat in its efforts to close the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

Three administrative judges within the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ruled last week that President Barack Obama and Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu don’t have the authority to close the controversial site unilaterally. That can only be accomplished, the judges said, by an act of Congress……………

The Yucca site has been controversial for a generation. The federal government designated Yucca Mountain in 1987 as the repository of highly toxic waste from nuclear complexes that built atomic bombs during the Cold War and has spent more than $10 billion readying it to receive some of the most dangerous material in the world.

Most Nevada politicians oppose the site, fearing its location 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas will become a drag on Las Vegas’ $28 billion tourism industry, but politicians from other states with large stockpiles of nuclear materials are eager for the dump to open.

In addition to waste from the construction of atomic weapons, the site also will accept less toxic – but still plenty deadly – waste from the nation’s 104 commercial nuclear reactors………….

In January, Chu set up the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Energy Future, led by former Rep. Lee Hamilton and former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, to seek alternatives to Yucca Mountain for radioactive waste disposal.

Not just the nuclear waste has proved controversial. The 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act also set a surcharge on the electrical bills of users of nuclear-generated power to develop and operate a dump for nuclear waste.

Judges block Obama effort to close Yucca Mountain waste site – KansasCity.com

July 5, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, uranium